Grove School

The Lake Forest City Council on Monday night heard for the first time a panel's recommendation for the former Grove School property that involves turning the site into a cultural arts campus with a music school and senior center. The City Council voted Monday to appoint a council committee to study how improvements outlined by the Grove School Blue Ribbon Committee would be financed. The city bought the 26-acre property north of Old Mill Road and east of Ridge Road in 1997 for $3.58 million.

Nurses, teacher's aides and other Downers Grove high school staff members will get pay bumps for the next three years under a new contract finalized with the district. The Community High School District 99 school board unanimously approved the agreement June 16 and the union voted to approve the deal earlier in the month, Supt. Mark McDonald said. "I just want to say 'thank you' to everyone who worked hard on getting that approval," Board Member Terry Pavesich said. "I...

Grove School officials were optimistic Tuesday that they would win their bid to retain their Medicaid funding, but they said it may now be months before an administrative law judge decides the school's fate. "We think our case was made very well," said Robert Matson, director of the school for mentally retarded adults. "Now it will be a matter of time." An administrative law judge for the Social Security Administration in Oak Brook listened to oral arguments last week on an attempt by federal...

Downers Grove high schools are test-driving a strategy to equip all students with individual devices. Community High School District 99 is completing a pilot program in which 200 students received their own Google Chromebooks and were allowed to use them throughout the school day and sometimes at home for their lessons and homework, officials said. The one-device-per-student initiative, commonly referred to as 1-to-1, has been underway in Grade School District 58 for...

After an emotional two-year battle with state and federal agencies, the Grove School of Lake Forest has agreed to stop caring for developmentally disabled adults. Instead, school officials are hoping to return the facility to its original mission, providing care for children with special needs. Grove has offered to provide shelter for 68 abused, neglected or abandoned children now in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services. The proposal, which DCFS said was...

E-cigarettes now are banned in Downers Grove District 99 high schools. The previous rule prohibited smoking and the use of tobacco on school grounds and at any school-sponsored events or activities. The ban comes as school districts statewide have reported seeing an uptick in teens using the devices. "We have encountered a few issues with e-cigarettes, in which students had placed tobacco inside of them," District 99 spokeswoman Jill Browning said recently. ...

City officials have said they want to take advantage of a unique opportunity to buy the shuttered Grove School and perhaps turn its tree-filled campus at Old Mill and Ridge Roads into a community park. The City Council voted Monday night to authorize city officials to enter into negotiations with Bethany Methodist Corp., the Chicago-based health care company that owns the property. A city-appointed committee spent the past three months examining the property after Bethany offered to...

Authorities are investigating a burglary believed to have taken place Monday night or Tuesday morning at a Morton Grove elementary school. Someone pried open the windows of three classrooms inside Hynes Elementary School, 9000 Belleforte Ave., sometime between 9:30 p.m. on Monday and 7 a.m. on Tuesday, said Morton Grove police Cmdr. Paul Yaras. Five computer towers, one laptop and a couple projectors were then taken from the three classrooms, Yaras said. Teachers...

Lake Forest city officials say they are unsure exactly why the once strident opposition to a new use for the old Grove School site seems to have dissipated into spring air. But with the plan reinventing the 26-acre property at Old Mill and Ridge Roads into a cultural arts campus and park still in its infancy, residents who have balked at other proposals will likely make an appearance to voice misgivings at a Zoning Board of Appeals public hearing...

A stream of hyper teenagers bounded into Tom Tedeschi's band room at Lakeview Junior High School in Downers Grove for daily rehearsal. The room soon filled with the combating sounds of trumpets, trombones, percussion and woodwinds warming up. Then a clarinet player set the tune, bringing the group of 55 into harmony to tackle the first song of the day. Lakeview's Wind Ensemble members have a lot on their plate to prepare for their biggest performance...

To alleviate overcrowding at their Bannockburn campus, Trinity International University officials are planning expansion at the site of the former Grove School. The university recently purchased the 32-acre parcel, which is located on Old Mill Road between U.S. Highway 41 and Waukegan Road. The university has not yet filed a petition before the Plan Commission, but Lake Forest director of community development Chuck Crook said the university proposes to subdivide the site. A portion of...

Downers Grove's public high school district is chucking its school bus provider after years of poor service, and its two feeder districts have followed suit. The Community High School District 99 school board recently approved a new three-year contract with First Student Inc. to provide busing to District 99 until summer 2017. The agreement will sever ties with Westway Coach, which had been operating buses in the district since fall of 2011. District 99, Grade School...

A Northbrook elementary school employee has been charged with stealing cleaning supplies and trying to deny his identity after he was arrested, authorities said. Ernestino Valdez, 31, of Mt. Prospect was charged last week with theft and obstructing an officer, police said. Officers said they found toilet paper, toilet brushes and cleaner in his car at Grove School, 1000 Pfingsten Rd., Northbrook.

Downers Grove High School District 99 officials on Monday expelled three students for the rest of the school year and portions of next school year. School officials declined to say what led to the action and only identified the students by six-digit codes. "I know this was a very difficult thing to do, and it was done in the interest of safety for our students going forward," Board President Nancy Kupka said. Community High School District 99 school board voted unanimously...

By A digest of coming events, compiled by Eric Ferkenhoff | December 14, 1997

Two of the hottest topics to face Barrington Unit District 220 come to a head this week: redistricting and another referendum to renovate Barrington High School and some elementary schools. The school board listened to more than 100 parents' opinions last week on redrawing school boundaries. The board is now devising several proposals. Meanwhile, after months of intense meetings, the Citizens Advisory Committee will present the board Monday with reports on needed building...

Downers Grove's high school district soon may adjust school policies to include rules on electronic cigarettes. Community High School District 99 does not explicitly ban e-cigarettes, according to spokeswoman Jill Browning. The current policy bans students from using, selling, distributing or possessing tobacco, alcohol, illegal drugs, steroids and several other substances. But administrators and the school board are expected to tackle new policies specifically...

By Laurie Grano. Special to the Tribune. Tribune staff writer Casey Bukro contributed to this report | June 19, 1999

As the battle drags on to acquire 14 acres of Ft. Sheridan to park garbage trucks, Lake Forest Mayor Howard Kerr has appointed an ad hoc committee to consider an alternative site for municipal services expansion. It is the 26-acre former Grove School property, which until recently was expected to be turned into a cultural arts campus and park. Either site is likely to be controversial, Kerr said in remarks before the City Council this week. "One might characterize...

Fees for Downers Grove high school students will stay the same in the 2014-15 school year. Downers Grove-based High School District 99 board members recently voted 5-2 in favor of keeping school and activity fees the same next year. Currently the district charges about a dozen different curricular and activity fees, including basic registration and textbooks, driver's education, participation in sports and student parking passes. District Controller Mark Staehlin said...

The Barrington-based Unit School District 220 school board, meeting in special session Thursday morning, accepted construction bids totaling $1.7 million to continue work at Barrington High School and at the Grove Avenue and Lines Elementary Schools. The work will be paid for from proceeds of a $69.9 million construction bond referendum approved by voters in March 1998. The bids were obtained by District 220's construction manager, Gilbane Building Co., Chicago. ...

Downers Grove's high school district wants to get new textbooks to replace tomes that are several years old. Community High School District 99 administrators recently proposed new books for six classes, including four Advanced Placement courses. Supt. Mark McDonald said that there is no prescribed timetable for phasing out old books in the district. "It depends on the applicability of the subject, how dynamic it is, how much it changes," McDonald said. "Other...